A reference and visitor's guide containing entries for all places mentioned in Tony Hillerman's southwestern mysteries. It provides location, historical information, the meaning of Navajo and Hopi names, and where a place appears in the mysteries.

Hillerman discusses his craft, including his approach to plot, characterization, and setting, and the wrinkles and twists that make his brand of fiction unique. These and other insights into how he writes emerge in an extended interview with his long-time friend and fellow author Ernie Bulow. An autobiographical piece by Hillerman details his early years in Oklahoma, first encounters with Navajo culture, and his eventual life as journalist and author....

Lt. Joe Leaphorn & Jim Chee, two officers of the Navajo Tribal Police, investigate the disappearance of an anthropologist suspected of selling ancient Indian artifacts on the black market.

Covers authors who are currently active or who died after December 31, 1959. Profiles novelists, poets, playwrights and other creative and nonfiction writers by providing criticism taken from books, magazines, literary reviews, newspapers and scholarly journals.